Hey All!!!!

We are so excited to report that thanks to many of you we have already exceeded our goal for the March for Babies on April 18th!!! Right now our total is $1735!!! We would LOVE to double our goal and there is still time to donate, so if it is on your heart to do so here is the link again.

We also know that money is super tight for lots of us and we understand that it isn't possible to donate right now. There are two other ways that you can be part of our team and help support us. First of all, your love, prayers, and encouragement as we set out to try and make a contribution to such a great cause. Second, you can walk with us. You don't have to donate in order to walk. Just let me know that you would like to join us for this "Celebration" of Sterling's health, and I will ,with great joy, add you to my list. We have found someone that is printing shirts for us. They can be ordered from a tiny little youth size up to a 2X. The cost of the shirt is around $8.00 We would just LOVE to have a huge team, sporting their "Team Sweet Cheeks" t-shirts, walking, enjoying one another, and eating a picnic lunch with us! I will need your shirt order by April 5th to make sure that you get your shirt in time for the walk. (I have also attached the shirt design at the bottom of the email)

Right now, one of our youngest walkers, Mikayleigh, has met and exceeded her personal goal too. She is such a sweet girl and we are honored to have her on our team. Here, in her own words, is why she is joining us....

"Hi! My Name is Mikayleigh, I am 8 years old and I am walking for my baby Sterling!!

I had just got back from the hospital when my daddy got the phone call from Uncle Randy, I knew it was bad when I saw my daddy start crying. 

I got out of the car and ran to my Mom where I dropped to my knees in the front yard and prayed so hard for God to make her better!! 

I had to stay with my Grammy while Mom and Dad went back to the hospital, I wanted to go but they wouldn't let me. I kept praying and praying that she would get better!

 I visited Aunt Tomi the next day and then went to Cooks where my baby Sterling was being taken care of, this made me feel a little better!

I still remember when my mom showed me the picture of her laying there in that weird bed with a BIG "Aunt Tomi" Bow on her head, she looked so cute!

 I continued to pray for her and her family and she beat all the odds against her and came home in 2 weeks. I know God anwsers prayers because look at that girl now!

I am walking to show how much I LOVE Sterling and all the other babies that March of Dimes save!"

Isn't she so precious?! Will you please join us and sweet Mikayleigh on our walk, Saturday, April 18th?

Have a great week! We look forward to hearing from you!

~Tomi, Randy, Chandler Garrett, & Sterling

March for Babies- 2009

front/back of t-shirt

We are walking in the March of Dimes, March for Babies!

We are on a journey to help preemies like our tiny little Sterling. 

I have been sending out e-mails to get the word out and am now placing them here on our blog. PLEASE feel free to forward this to anyone who might be interested in helping or participating in this fun day! We are so excited and can't wait to share our success with all of you!

It is hard to believe that our sweet Sterling Maye is already 4 months old! She is THRIVING; beautiful big blue eyes, fat, happy, a smile that will melt you, and MOST importantly she is HEALTHY (the set of lungs this girl has now are strong- trust me :)

As you all know, this precious little one made quite the dramatic entrance into our world, and unlike her mother (who is chronically late to everything) made her debut 4 weeks early. A preemie. Weighing in at 6 pounds 6 ounces and 18 inches long. She blew holes in both lungs and was transported to Cooks Childrens Hospital in Fort Worth for a 2 week stay in the NICU. There is no question that Sterling made it through because of the excellent care that she received from the doctors, nurses, support staff, and volunteers at Cooks. The reason that Cooks is so well prepared and up on the latest care for preemies, like Sterling, is in part, because of organizations like the March of Dimes.

The March of Dimes is America's favorite walking event! When you walk, you give hope to the families of babies born too soon or sick. The money you raise supports programs in you community that help moms have healthy, full-term pregnancies. And it funds research to find answers to the serious problems that threaten our babies. They have been walking since 1970 and have raised an incredible $1.8 billion to benefit all babies.

There is also absoultley NO DOUBT that we wouldn't have made it through those first few weeks of her life, if it hadn't been for the love, support, and prayers that you so unselfishly lavished on our family. We are humbly asking for that support again. We are forming a team to walk in honor of Sterling and the joy that she is bringing to our lives. You can participate by showing up to walk and /or by donating money in Sterling's name. It is our goal to raise $1000 for the March of Dimes. We would be thrilled and honored if you would stand by us again for this celebration of her life. You could also forward this to those you work with, go to church with, any school organizations- it is a great community service project! This is an awesome thing to do with your entire family-The more the merrier!

To find out more... click here, OR you can click on the link at the top of our blog.

~Randy, Tomi, Chandler Garrett, & Sterling 

4 months & with her elephant

she screamed until this picture. then we got a little half smile

....and more thumb sucking

Just a little more cuteness!

Nothing says spring like FREEZING COLD soccer!

Dude started soccer again this spring! He is so excited. 

He is playing back on the same team that he played on before we moved to Burleson, so he is a happy happy camper. It ALWAYS seems like spring soccer starts out so DARN cold!

His first two games, it was about 42 degrees and 30 mile an hour winds.

(remember a few days ago, I had the baby in shorts- Love that Texas weather)

We all bundled up and headed out twice this weekend and all nearly froze to death.

Except Sterling. We had her SO wrapped up that she was sweating!

We are looking forward to more games and hopefully, warmer weather!

Chandler on the side lines hoping to go in so that he can run and warm up!

I will remind him someday  of days like this- when he thinks that I never did anything for him.

Don't all kids say that at some point? I have the pictures to prove him wrong. :)

Little sister all bundled up!

This is us at the night game. Still stinking cold. Sterling is under there...

see the hat on her punkin head?!?!

4 months old and a little bit mad

Our sweet little one is now officially 4 months old!

This was the day that we went in for her check-up and shots.

She is growing like crazy! All that eating is doing her good!

She is now 25" long and 15 pounds 4 ounces! A VERY big girl!

She is so happy and doing great!

They had to give her 2 shots this day and she was MAD about it!

She was all smiles before the shots, then she screamed bloody murder, 

then she passed out in her car seat for nearly 3 hours, 

THEN she woke up and looked at me like this the rest of the day.

"Mommy, why did you let them do that to me?!"

She literally looked at me like this the entire rest of the day!

She was really mad!

I thought that you might like to see how she has grown over the last few months:

*11/24  6 pounds, 4 ounces and 20" long

*12/8   7 pounds, 2 ounces and 20 3/4" long

*12/26   9 pounds, 8 ounces

*1/8   11 pounds, 2 ounces and 22 inches

She is a big ole girl and we just love her to pieces!

This girl likes to eat!

She is 16 weeks old and that means she can start to eat 

solids. AND SHE LOVES IT!!!!!

Green beans were the first one to try and look at that smile! 

She is a huge fan!

She ate great and is now eating 3-4 times a day! 

The only thing that I don't like is that she

is such a spitter upper (which is YUCK!) that now all

the spit up is the color of what ever she has eaten instead of 

just plain ole white formula. Oh the stains!

I would like to point our that she isn't wearing a bow-

like many of you think that she wears 24-7. 

She looks like a COMPLETELY differnt baby though!

So, while she is eating, brother is cleaning up after dinner...

.these are the kind of pictures that he lets me take of him theses days. 

Lovely.

After all that eating vegies-she was ready for a little nap.

look at those legs!!

....and arms and feet! oooohhh i could just eat her up!

this sweet little thing has been covered with long sleeves, and pants, socks 

since she was born. with it being so cold we just have rarely seen those

chubby little rolls-except for bath time and a diaper change. 

We had great weather and this was the first time that she wore shorts and short sleeves.

she must have loved how ti felt to be free of all those clothes,

she wiggled and giggled all day.

I can't wait to see more of that baby girl skin this summer!

(it gives me more places to kiss!)

Catching up...again

Yes, I am WAAAAYY behind again...sorry to those who keep up.

Anyway...When we came home from our trip we were so so happy to see the kids (and the dog). So the next few days, I spent soaking all three of them up and loving on them. (I would like to give a side note- I do still at least TRY to take pictures of Garrett, his new thing is to hide from the camera and not let me catch a glimpse of him. I don't have favorite children, just one that won't cooperate) :)

This is how I often find the baby and the girl dog. I love it. So thus the picture.

Now, this is her new trick. I must say that although it is not the best thing

for her, it is so stinking cute and I love it! 

 (I did try for a few days to keep it out of her mouth, and even tried leaving a mitten on both of her hands. Neither one worked. She is determined)

I really can't say much, I sucked my thumb till I was in High School- I can't believe that I am 

admitting that, but it's true.

She LOVES this so much! She make so much noise when she is going to town on that thumb and you can hear sighs of joy coming from behind that slobbery thumb.

Either thumb works, she is ambidextrous (sign of a genius, I do believe)

I guess we will worry about braces and teeth and all that mess later. 

For now, we will just enjoy the cuteness.

Our Get Away

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Randy's work sends us on a trip every year- yay us!! This is such a great "perk" to his job. He works so hard all year and really earns this trip. So, luckily, he gets to take one guest-so happy that he keeps picking me! :) His parents were kind enough to come stay with the kids so that we could go and have no worries!

This year the trip was to Paradise Island in the Bahamas- we stayed at the fabulous Atlantis hotel. It was so beautiful! The architecture and design were amazing. The pools and water park were so fun- we really missed having Garrett with us, he would have loved it. The only bummer to the whole week was that it was pretty cool and really windy. But, it was such a welcomed break and time that we needed to be together that we didn't care one bit.

We laughed, ate, shopped, swam, hung out in the Casino, Randy got to play golf on a really beautiful course, and we even slept ALL NIGHT for 4 whole days! We had a great time and are so thankful for the job that God has blessed Randy with. We are looking forward to next year already!